


Sleeping on the Job

by Musetotheworld



Series: Tumblr Prompt Fills [13]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, concerned!Cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 09:14:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9879476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Musetotheworld/pseuds/Musetotheworld
Summary: Cat finds Kara sleeping at her desk. But there's just one thing, Kryptonians on Earth don't need sleep, and Kara can't seem to keep her eyes open.





	

When you’re dating a solar powered battery that doesn’t need to sleep, you get used to certain things. Like middle of the night snack runs, and waking up to blue eyes staring at you rather than closed in restful sleep like the rest of the world tends to be at four in the morning. It was just something Cat learned to deal with and eventually come to love, something so purely Kara that she couldn’t be annoyed even if she wanted to be. And she doesn’t want to be.

So walking in on Kara asleep at her desk is somewhat of a shock for Cat, who’s never seen anything like it in all the time she’s known Kara. She knows the younger woman is capable of sleep even if she doesn’t actually need it, but a nap in the middle of the day seems very strange.

So rather than wake Kara the way her first instinct tells her to, Cat steps back out of the office and down the hall a little ways to call Alex. If something has happened, Cat needs to know about it so she can take care of Kara.

“Cat, what’s going on?” Alex asks in confusion when she picks up the phone, not used to calls during the day, or from Cat in general. Usually it’s Kara calling instead.

“Kara’s asleep on her desk, and I need to know whether I should be worried,” Cat says quietly as she peers back down the hall to make sure she isn’t overheard by Kara or anyone else. “Did something happen, should I try to wake her?”

“She hasn’t been out on DEO duty today, and I haven’t heard anything on comms. Try to wake her, and if she doesn’t respond let me know, I can be there within ten minutes.” Then concern in Alex’s voice does nothing to reassure Cat, but at least Alex isn’t panicking. If she were, then with the number of reporters in the building Cat might have more than just a sleeping girlfriend to worry about.

While they’re open about their relationship to avoid anyone finding out and using it against them, both women have been very careful to keep things professional while they’re at work. Kara doesn’t need more reason for people to think she’d slept her way to her job (though that particular rumor was short lived as those who knew her personally shot it down quickly), and Cat doesn’t need to give the board reason to question her competence. And obviously Cat panicking about something as simple as a sleeping girlfriend would attract all the wrong attention, something she wants to avoid at all costs.

Walking back into Kara’s office, Cat debates for a moment before closing and locking the door. That’s another thing they try to avoid after too many tasteless comments from immature employees with too much time and not enough fear. But if waking Kara proves difficult or she wakes disoriented and not careful of her secrets, an open door is just asking for trouble.

“Kara, darling, can you wake up for me?” Cat says softly, relieved when Kara shifts at her words and the light touch of a hand to her shoulder. It’s not consciousness, but it’s at least something. “Kara, are you okay?”

“Mm, sleepy,” Kara murmurs as she buries her head further into her arms, turning away from where Cat is trying to wake her. And as much as actual words coming from the hero reassure Cat, the fact that she won’t fully wake also worries her.

“Kara, if you don’t wake up I’m going to call Alex back, Cat tries, hoping to play on Kara’s desire to avoid worrying her sister as much as possible. If anything will wake Kara up, it will be that.

“No, don’t call Alex,” Kara whines, raising her head and finally opening her eyes. “I’m fine, Cat. Just tired is all.”

“You don’t get tired, Kara. You’ve never needed sleep before,” Cat says softly, hoping Kara is awake enough to read the real concern in her eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay? You didn’t blow out your powers, did you?”

As Kara focuses on Cat she seems to grow more aware, shaking off at least a little of her exhaustion and sitting up in her chair. “I’m fine,” she says, but Cat can tell she isn’t even convinced herself. “I can still hear your heartbeat, so I’ve still got my powers.”

“Have you done anything strenuous in the past few hours?” Cat asks, because she knows Kara had flown off on Supergirl duty for a bit earlier. It hadn’t seemed like anything major, and Cat has been working on trying to avoid worrying every time Kara flies off, so she hadn’t paid too much attention to the details. She doesn’t remember anything particularly worrisome or dangerous, but Kara doesn’t always tell her right away when things come up, not if they’re in public or at work.

“No, just a bank robbery and a mugging,” Kara says with a frown that fades into a yawn, and Cat debates for a second before straightening and heading for the door.

“Gather your things, Kara. We’re going to see Alex,” she says firmly, knowing Kara won’t want to bother or worry her sister, but not liking the continuing exhaustion she can see in Kara’s face, in the way her body seems to be fighting to stay upright. “Don’t try to seem like your normal energetic self, if people think you’re sick no one will question us leaving in the middle of the day.”

Kara pouts, just as Cat expected her to, but knows better than to argue. When Cat is worried enough to leave work in the middle of the day, there’s no arguing with her. Kara might hate causing a fuss over what might be nothing, but she won’t fight Cat on this.

They manage to leave without attracting too much attention, Cat’s impatience masking her worry keeps all but the closest of Kara’s friends from offering their get well soon wishes, and the two are on the way to the DEO in short order. Kara offered to fly them, but Cat refused to let her exert herself until they knew what was going on.

Which meant quite a few tests being run as Cat waited in the background, staying out of the way as per the agreement she had with Alex after the first time she’d been allowed at the DEO while Kara was being treated. So long as she stays back and lets Alex work she can stay in the room, but even one interruption and Alex would kick her out. Or at least she would try, but that was a battle of wills even Cat was wary of entering. So it really was better for everyone involved if she stayed quietly off to the side until the tests were done.

“You just sit and wait until I get back, okay?” Alex says with a stern glare when she’s finished gathering as much data as she can. “Your stats are off a bit, so no rushing off to save the day until we know what’s causing that.”

“Fine,” Kara pouts, and Alex’s glare in return is matched by the one Cat sends her way. “But can you at least hurry? You two have me all worried now.”

“Now you know how we feel,” Cat teases, hoping to take Kara’s mind off of things. And with Alex done she can cross the room to Kara’s side, which will help comfort the hero as well as offer a closeness that will reassure them both. “Let your sister run the tests, we’ll figure out what’s going on soon enough.”

“I’m just so tired, Cat. It’s weird. Because I still have all my powers, but all I want it to lay down and go to sleep, even though it’s the middle of the day.” Kara is clearly upset by the situation, and Cat wonders what about it is making her quite so emotional. She’s never seen the hero like this, not when she still had her powers. When she blew them out she’d get frustrated and emotional, downright whiny sometimes, but that’s not what’s going on here. And this is a different kind of worry anyway.

“We’ll go home after this and you can get some rest, okay Kara? You may even convince me to at least work from the bed next to you while you sleep.” It’s a cover, they both know Cat won’t be leaving her side unless she absolutely has to, but the woman can’t say that. Even after they’ve been together as long as they have, even when everyone who knows them is fully aware of just how soft Cat can be, she won’t admit to it openly. Not with anyone but Kara or her son.

“Okay,” Kara says softly as she leans into Cat’s side, eyes already drooping a little as she fights to stay awake. “Wake me up when Alex comes back?”

“You won’t get much of a nap if that’s what you’re waiting for,” Alex says from the doorway, looking apologetic as she enters. “But on the plus side, the answer wasn’t hard to find.”

“You know what’s going on?” Cat asks, careful not to imply that there’s something  _ wrong _ .

“Yeah, first set of tests came back with the answer, surprisingly enough,” Alex says with a soft cough, looking a little awkward. “Usually doesn’t happen that way, it’s a general precaution test before we move on to anything that could potentially be harmful.” Something about the way she says it, the way she’s holding herself, sends a shiver running down Cat’s spine as she adds up the information and comes to a conclusion that can’t be right.

“Alex, do you mean what I think you do?” Cat asks carefully, grip tightening around Kara’s shoulders as she forces herself not to jump to conclusions. She’s dating an alien, for god’s sake, there’s always another explanation.

“Yeah, Cat, I probably do,” Alex says with a sigh, and Cat can feel when Kara catches on. It’s a tightening in her frame that would be unnoticeable if not for the grip Cat has on her, and some part of the older woman is glad to know she isn’t the only one surprised by the news. “Kara, the scan shows you’re pregnant, at about the equivalent of six weeks of human fetal development.”

“Pregnant?” Kara asks faintly, one hand going to cover her abdomen over where the child currently rests. “How?”

“I talked to your mother,” Alex rushes to reassure them, and Cat finds herself yet again thankful for the silent understanding of the agent. They need answers, and she’d brought them from the beginning. “Apparently on Krypton it was possible to conceive from any partner, though between the Codex and the strict nature of arranged marriages, that wasn’t common knowledge.”

“That makes sense,” Kara says faintly, still looking as shocked as Cat feels. “Marriages were arranged for balance, and the flaw in the Matricomp meant all pairings were between a man and woman. There wasn’t any reason for us to know.”

Cat has some very definite thoughts on that, and a quick glance at Alex showed the agent has the same ones, but they’d both learned over the years that sometimes criticizing Krypton was best done in private, away from Kara. It had been her culture, and while she’d put a lot of the things she’d been taught aside in favor of Earth customs, that doesn’t mean she’d lost the years of living there.

“Are there any risks, and how long before the baby is born?” Cat asks before the temptation to say something anyway grows too strong. It doesn’t matter that Kara hadn’t known, not at this point. All that matters is that Kara is pregnant, and now they have a new set of worries.

“There shouldn’t be any risk, but this is the first human/Kryptonian child we know of. So we’ll be keeping a close eye on things as the baby develops, which should be on roughly the same timetable as human babies. And Kara, with as tired as you already are, Supergirl will need to at least temporarily retire. The exhaustion is probably just your body adapting to the added demands of growing a fetus, but we can’t be sure. And if it’s more, or the drain ends up sending you into solar flare, then you’d be putting yourself and the baby at risk. At least for the next few months, you’re grounded sis.” Cat is glad that Alex is the one giving that speech, she can already tell Kara won’t take it well, and even less so over the coming months as she hears about robberies and attacks she’d normally be involved in stopping.

But it’s the best thing for her and the child, and Kara knows that. So she won’t fight, even if she’ll probably pout for a solid week. “We’ll have to make up some story to explain my absence then,” is all she says, and Cat sighs in relief that it isn’t going to be an issue just yet. Today they can absorb the news, later they can deal with Kara being upset.

“Your cousin often leaves to help with off world issues,” Cat points out as the idea comes to her. “We’ll run a story where you officially take his place as an interplanetary ambassador for a few months, leaving Earth in his care while you’re needed elsewhere. I’m sure we can come up with enough details to satisfy the city’s curiosity.”

“And of course it’ll be a CatCo exclusive,” Alex teases, and Cat doesn’t even pretend to feign shame at the knowing tone. Of course it will be. And if Lois wants to fight her on it, then Cat will just call it an early baby gift and tell her to suck it.

The rest of the visit goes quickly as Alex runs them through symptoms to look for and what to expect, and before long they’re back in the car and on the way home.

“We’ll have to think of a story for us as well,” Kara says quietly when they’re about halfway home, and Cat nods, already having thought of that.

“At least we’re already out, there shouldn’t be a scandal. We’ll just have to come up with something that sounds believable. Accidental alien impregnation still sounds too science fiction for the world.” Cat knows what story she’d like to run, but she isn’t sure how Kara feels, or what she wants. They’ve been together for a while now, yes, but neither has made much move towards anything more than what they have now. They hadn’t expected a baby to come along and change things for them.

“You do want this, right?” Kara asks, voice hesitant as she keeps her hands clasped firmly in her lap, not looking at Cat. “I know it’s a lot to take in, and we didn’t exactly know it was a possibility. I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything.”

“Oh, Kara,” Cat says, pulling the car to the side of the road with little warning. She’s not putting this off until they’re home, she’s going to make sure Kara knows how she feels now. “I do want this, I promise you that. It’s a surprise, of course, but it’s not a bad one. And I wouldn’t leave you and our child to do this alone. That’s not obligation, Kara, that’s love.”

“I love you too,” Kara says as she starts to cry, and Cat ignores the strain of the limited room to reach across the console and pull Kara into the tightest hug she can manage.

“This is a good thing,” Cat promises, running a hand through Kara’s hair as the stressed superhero lets her pent up emotions out. “This is a very good thing, Kara.”

They have a lot to talk about, a lot to plan, but Cat knows that much for certain. She loves Kara, and even though their child is a lump of cells at this point, she loves them too. And really, nothing else but that matters.


End file.
